X - Christ

Norah Summers July 26, 2023 0 0

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Ephesians 1: 3-10 (GNT)

3 Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! For in our union with Christ he has blessed us by giving us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly world. 4 Even before the world was made, God had already chosen us to be his through our union with Christ, so that we would be holy and without fault before him.

Because of his love 5 God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his children—this was his pleasure and purpose. 6 Let us praise God for his glorious grace, for the free gift he gave us in his dear Son! 7 For by the blood of Christ we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven. How great is the grace of God, 8 which he gave to us in such large measure!

In all his wisdom and insight 9 God did what he had purposed, and made known to us the secret plan he had already decided to complete by means of Christ. 10 This plan, which God will complete when the time is right, is to bring all creation together, everything in heaven and on earth, with Christ as head.

Greek XR is an abbreviation for the Greek letters Chi Rho for Christos.

Our journey through the alphabet this month has already dealt with J for Jesus.

The X or Chi completes the appellation Jesus Christ.

By way of extra reading to put this in context look at Matthew 16: 13-16. Jesus asks Peter, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ Peter replies that some say Elijah or one of the prophets. Jesus persists – ‘Who do you say that I am?’ and Peter says, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’.

The Christ is the Anointed One – the word is connected to chrism, the anointing with holy oil for healing and consecration – the Unction which Sunday’s letter U stood for.

And here in Ephesians we have a longer explanation of God’s purposes and the place of Jesus in them. This is not easy for our human minds to process, and our understanding will certainly be imperfect. But Peter’s firm and unhesitating declaration can be a starting point.

PRAYER:

Loving God,

we do struggle with the concepts of ‘Life, the Universe and Everything’ –

give us grace, we pray,

to see through the complications of language

and the accumulated confusions of received ideas,

to the simple truth that Jesus is the Christ,

our Alpha and Omega,

and everything in between,

all we need.